Kawakami: Five reasons the Giants will stay in the race

They don't look like a playoff team, they sure don't hit like a playoff team, and the standings say that the Giants are ...

Wait for it ...

Tied for the first N.L. wild-card spot with Atlanta.

Oh, and this, too: The Giants trail the N.L. West-leading Dodgers by only one game.

Which is a roundabout way of emphasizing that the Giants are still very much in this pennant race and have to approach every upcoming decision with that in mind.

There are disturbing signs about this team, no doubt; the Giants' 10-22 record since June 8 is a big indicator of a lot of shaky things.

But the Giants are still so close to another postseason run and their roster core is so fixed in place that there just isn't much to gain from giving up, selling off and going meekly into the offseason.

The Giants are probably in this race for the duration, and here are my five main reasons for this:

1. The Dodgers are beatable until proven otherwise (and even if they do more mega-spending soon).

Yep, I know the Dodgers ate up the Giants' early 9﻿1/2-game lead this year in a few weeks.

But since June 30, the Giants have gone 6-7. While the Dodgers have gone an awe-inspiring 6-6.

Though many have pointed out that the Dodgers won the division going away last season, I'll note that they did it by winning 92 games, fewest among the six division winners.

This year, the Dodgers are on pace to win 90 games. The Giants need to go 38-29 to finish with 90 victories.

I'd say that's a realistic Giants' target, right there.

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Side note: The Dodgers definitely see this threat, because they're carefully adjusting their rotation for the upcoming series against the Giants.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is holding his top guns out this weekend to make sure they're lined up for the Giants series next weekend; Giants manager Bruce Bochy isn't doing that with his aces.